You are here

Why The ICC Is Wrong In Kenya And The Sudan

If the future welfare of these two large and important African nations were truly a matter of benevolent concern it would be clear that at such a critical transitional period both nations need a breathing space from constant hostile western press attacks and the ICC spotlight that are shifting daily the ground under the leadersâ€™ feet.

[Global: Africa]

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor who has little if any real knowledge of Africa and its mass of mini-nations, seemingly has the one ambition of bringing the Sudan to disaster as the result of his personal quest for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

He is not thinking of the consequences that would occur during this period when the Sudan is organizing itself into a new destiny of nationhood. Here we have a person brought up in South America where crime, disaster, corruption and lack of democracy are endemic.

He seems unaware that Africa has had, and is doing its best to shake off, the yoke of colonialism and the White man’s re-drawing of borders that have left mini-nations divided in two or three different colonial countries which now makes it extremely hard toil for elected leaders to create "one nation, one people."

This is especially so when foreigners, with complete indifference to the needs of Africans, swoop in and corrupt different ethnic groups to gain the wealth of oil and minerals and in doing so bring ethnic violence that is then supplied with imported modern weaponry.

The Sudan is one such case but Kenya, right on the Sudan's border, now is also under the “iron fist” of Moreno-Ocampo. Certainly we have seen atrocities committed during Kenya’s elections and certainly the super powers were saying and aware there would be killings, rape and human atrocities at such a time.

Yet this Western version of democracy is what the USA demanded. They shrugged their shoulders at more seasoned advice to let Africa find its own destiny and not let those like Moreno-Ocampo crack the whip upon young African nations where even basic schooling has not reached the hungry masses.

So now in Kenya we have President Mwai Kibaki and his Prime Minister Raila Odinga bashing heads together and thoroughly alarmed by the release of Moreno-Ocampo’s list of the Kenyans he wishes to put on public trial in a European court; especially as those named are key personalities of the mini-nations making up the newly formed coalition government.

Moreno-Ocampo and with equal measure, Washington, unquestionably are causing a political fallout that can split the cabinets of both, within Sudan and Kenya, at the very time day-to-day management is required by the African Union to keep the peace.

If the future welfare of these two large and important African nations were truly a matter of benevolent concern it would be clear that at such a critical transitional period both nations need a breathing space from constant hostile western press attacks and the ICC spotlight that are shifting daily the ground under the leaders’ feet.

Bob Astles lived for many years in Africa and was an advisor to Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.